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Cocktail hour at Brisbane Airport

Fancy a nice refreshing cocktail before your next flight? Try one of our top picks for pre-flight cocktails that are bound to delight every traveller. Located at different bars within the International and Domestic Terminals, make sure to celebrate your imminent holiday with a seasonal cocktail.

Rum Old Fashioned

Aviation Pier Cafe and Bar, Domestic Terminal, next to Gate 43

Small batch Cargo Cult spiced rum is the base of Aviation Pier's simple but popular Old Fashioned. The bar has given it a unique twist, swapping the traditional Old Fashioned whiskey based base with spiced rum, produced from rich volcanic soils, pure water and sugarcane grown in the sun-drenched tropics of the South Pacific, its sweetness tempered by dry spices that give it an extra kick. The first step on an adventure to the Top End, we say.

Ingredients:

60ml Cargo Cult spiced rum

20ml simple sugar syrup

Dash of bitters

Lemon twist

To make:mix the ingredients in a short glass over ice and garnish with a twist of lemon.

Gettin' Figgy wit It

This funky twist on a classic mojito is a nod to the '90s hit by actor, rapper and comedian Will Smith 'Gettin' Jiggy wit It', and based on the Esprit de Figues fig-flavoured liqueur. A sip before embarking to the Whitsundays perhaps?

Ingredients:

30ml Esprit de Figues Liqueur

15ml lychee liqueur

15ml lime juice

Lemonade

Soda water

Lime 'wheel' slices for garnish

Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

To make:fill a hurriance glass with crushed ice. Pour in liqueurs and lime juice. Top it off with equal parts lemonade and garnish with lime slices and mint sprig.

Tanquillity

A passenger travelling to Vanuatu asked mixologist Ricardo Baker to surprise her with something tropical and that provided the inspiration for the Tanquillity cocktail which has become one of its most popular drinks.

Ingredients:

2 lime wedges

30ml gin

15ml Midori Melon Liqueur

15 ml Malibu Coconut Rum

30ml pineapple juice

4-6 mint leaves

Ice

To make:muddle the lime wedges in a shaker then add gin, Midori Melon Liqueur, Malibu Coconut Rum and pineapple juice. Take the mint leaves in your hand and gently clap your hands together until you can smell the mint aroma. Drop the mint into the shaker and fill with ice. Shake vigorously and double strain into a chilled martini glass.

Blueberry Mojito

Manager Lee McKimmin's own passion for blueberries and mojitos led to this combination on the cocktail menu and they soon discovered patrons loved it too - a refreshing aperitif before boarding for a tropical island getaway. The bar staff gets creative for special occasions so come Christmas-time look out for a Santa Claus-mopolitan and other treats for a limited time.

Ingredients:

60ml Bacardi Rum

5-7 blueberries

5ml lime juice

1-3 lime slices

7 mint leaves

15ml ginger simple syrup*

Soda water

Edible flowers for garnish

To make:muddle mint, blueberries, ginger syrup and fresh lime together then add ice, pour over Bacardi and top up with soda water. Garnish with more mint, lime slices, flowers and a blueberry straw (blueberries on a small skewer). *Make as for simple syrup with sugar and water, adding 100g of fresh ginger peeled and cut into very thin rounds, steep then strain before adding to drink mix.

Macciato Martini

The mixologists at Windmill & Co combine their barista expertise with their spirit-ual talent, blending espresso with liqueurs and artistically layering the flavours in the pour. A coffee-cultured update on New York's popular martini.

Ingredients:

30ml Patron XO Cafe

15ml Frangelico

10ml simple sugar syrup

30ml espresso

15ml Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur

3 coffee beans for garnish

To make:chill a martini glass with ice then discard the ice. Pour Patron XO, Frangelico, simple syrup and espresso into a Boston shaker with ice, shake hard, strain three quarters of mixture into martini glass. Add Baileys to the shaker and shake hard again. Strain the remainder of mixture into the martini glass using a cocktail spoon to help layer. Garnish with coffee beans.